Strategy
In the context of board games, strategy refers to a player's plan of action for playing and winning the game.
A distinction is often made between strategy and tactics. In this case, strategy refers to a player's overall plan of action considering the global position on the board, whereas tactics refers to specific moves and actions taken in support of that plan, often in a specific area of the board. For example, a player's strategy in Hex might be to occupy at least two corners of the board, and then allow their opponent to connect to one side while blocking the other. An example of a tactic would be to connect a third row ladder by playing the a3 switchback.
On this page and throughout the wiki, the term "strategy" is used more broadly to encompass any topic related to how to play Hex well, including both strategy and tactics. The various "strategy guides" cover both strategy and tactics and provide advice for players looking to improve their skills and increase their chances of winning.
Players looking to improve their strategy are advised to start with the strategy roadmap. It provides a list of skills in the approximate order in which players should learn them.
Overview
- Strategy roadmap. This is a good starting point for players looking for strategy advice.
- Glenn C. Rhoads's strategy guide with a few updates: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced.
- Jonathan Rydh's strategy guide (used with permission) provides some examples of "how to think" during a game.
- David Boll's FAQ covers the most important aspects of strategy in a compact way.
- Matthew Seymour's Hex: A Strategy Guide is an online book with interactive game boards.
The opening
- How to start 13x13 (adapted from Jonatan Rydh's page on openings)
- Joseki shows the typical way to play the corner areas.
Additional topics
- Connections
- Bottlenecks
- Ladders
- Ladder handling
- Switchback
- Templates
- Equivalent patterns
- Common mistakes
- Tips and tricks
- Territory
- Local play and Tenuki
- Walls
- Ropes
- Puzzles, sometimes also called Problems
- Proverbs
- Peep
- Corner moves and Joseki
- Initiative
- Forcing moves
- Pairing strategy
- Opening
- Foldback
- Climbing
- Flanks
- Captured cells
- Dead cells
- Dominated cells
- Tidiness
- Efficiency
- Minimaxing
- Questions
- Tom's move
- Parallel ladders
- Pivoting templates
- Near ladder escapes
- Blocking
- Double threats
- Bridge ladders
- Cornering
- Irrelevant moves
- Ladder escape forks
- Mustplay region
